We keep honey bees in a demonstration hive at the Nature Center (see picture)_mg_8757.jpg so we’re always interested in bee news. The commercial industry is in upheaval from mysterious colony collapses, disease, parasites and fewer beekeepers. But there’s hope in in bee world and it’s coming from people whose hobby is raising bees in the backyard.

The New York Times says backyard beekeepers haven’t succumbed to the market forces that have limited genetic diversity among honey bees. See Backyard Beekeepers as Warriors Against a Plague

Reporter Leslie Land writes:

In the United States, most of the heirloom strains were wiped out, along with most of the feral honeybees, by the tracheal mites and Varroa mites that arrived in the 1980s. Many beekeepers simply quit, roughly halving the number of hives in this country, to about 2.5 million. Twenty-two years ago there were 9,000 beekeepers in Ohio. Now there are 3,100, and that trend is mirrored everywhere, he said.

As honey prices dropped and demand for pollination services rose, the market for bees became a market for good pollinators, Mr. Flottum explained. The gene pool narrowed as breeders concentrated on that one trait. Any weakness in the bees was masked by an efficient arsenal of pesticides and antibiotics.

But the chemicals and medicine aren’t working anymore and the bee industry is promoting genetic diversity as salvation. And they’re finding that diversity — and disease resistance — in backyard hives.
Genetic Diversity. Amen!

Genetic diversity is vital in our monoculture world. And much of that genetic diversity is in our remaining natural areas — the forests, grasslands, oceans and ecosystems that are increasingly pressured by poor land use decisions, pollution, climate change and a blissful ignorance about the incredible importance of preserving these genetic havens.

What can you do? Use your backyard as a genetic refuge. Next spring, when The Wild Ones, Sinnissippi Audubon Society and other groups have the native plant sales, add some of the plants that grew here before settlement to your garden of cultivars or yard of blue grass. Our visit a reputable grower that uses local genotypes, such as Red Buffalo Nursery in Hebron, or Taylor Creek Nurseries in Brodhead, Wis.

And support local honey producers like Raines Honey Farm (Phil Raines maintains our demonstration hive) and our neighbors Ross and Janice Thompson (Ross maintains our Website) at Bee Boppin’ Honey. Their products are delicious and you’ll be helping them keep genetic diversity alive in their hives.